The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights filed lawsuits on Tuesday against the Bush Administration for conducting wiretaps of American citizens without judicial oversight.

The ACLU filed its lawsuit against the federal agency tasked with conducting surveillance, the National Security Agency (NSA), on behalf of three authors, two Islamic scholars, and three nonprofit groups that believe they have been or could be targeted by the wiretapping orders. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed its lawsuit on behalf of its staff, who fit the criteria of those that could be the focus of investigations, the group said in a statement.

In addition to questions regarding the privacy of U.S. citizens, details of the program also raise issues about whether the U.S government has the right to tap data that merely passes through the country. Media reports from earlier this year suggested that the NSA was being positioned to be the nation's traffic cop.